The third was with a local company, started in 1859 by Henry Rice, Dayton Stencil. “I was approached about working with Dayton Stencil and decided to try it out,” Horwath said. “I was hired part-time on Dec. 27 (1955) and worked there while I finished my last semester in college.”
And on Feb. 26, Horwath will officially celebrate his last day with the company he has called his work “home,” for more than 60 years — a company that has seen tremendous change, but that still serves the local community, as well as companies and organizations across the globe.
Horwath was hired as an office worker but when he retires tomorrow, he will do so as vice president of the downtown company that grew initially by cutting stencils for the many distilleries and breweries founder Henry Rice discovered in Dayton when he arrived.
“Everything was packed in wooden barrels and they were labeled with stencils,” Horwath said. “Some of the new craft breweries around town have bought stencils from us to give them that vintage look.”
Over the years, the stencil business had to adapt and the company moved into making metal tags for horse drawn buggies, like the popular Studebaker brand and when General Motors moved into Dayton, they made them for automobiles.
“Every refrigerator that came off the line at Frigidaire had two tags on it made by Dayton Stencil,” Horwath said.
And as the industry developed, metal tags and badges transformed into plastic. And Horwath was there to see those changes. “I have always worked in the same building,” he said. “The company moved into this building in 1907.”
He said one of the biggest changes since he began his job is the streamlining of the accounting system through technology.
“We didn’t even have pocket calculators when I started at the company,” Horwath said. “All the accounting was done on big, mechanical NCR machines. They even did payroll checks on them. Everything is done by computer today.”
That streamlining has reduced the need for human resources and what was once a company of 40 employees is now just 20, but that doesn’t mean business isn’t still booming.
“We make all kinds of plastic badges for nonprofit organizations like the Boy Scouts and the Dayton performing arts,” Horwath said. “We also make them for local companies. And we make plaques of all kinds.”
The company’s largest product, however, is golf club tags, which they started making for one account — McGregor — and now make for many of the largest golf courses across the country. “Donald Trump is one of our best customers,” Horwath said. “He owns several top-100 golf courses.”
Horwath is married to wife Janet and has raised his six children in Kettering. The couple have 21 grandchildren and one great-grandchild and they look forward to spending time with family and traveling during retirement.
He was surprised during his retirement party a few weeks ago with a painting of the historic Dayton Stencil building, given to him by the Dayton Foundation in honor of Dayton Stencil’s many years of service and philanthropy to the community.
The artist, a Dayton Foundation receptionist Regina Dixon, said she is often inspired by many things she sees in the local community.
“Once Larry mentioned to me he was retiring after 60 years of service at Dayton Stencil, that was my inspiration to show him how much the Dayton community appreciates his life’s work,” Dixon said. “There aren’t many companies in Greater Dayton that have been in business for over 150 years. This inspired me to present a painting of the building to him as part of our community’s history.”
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